I don't know whether I'd more accurately call myself a converted skeptic or a skeptical convert, but here I am making a blog post. My first one, actually.

I've spent most of the past seven to eight years mocking the value of blogs as some sort of low-cost vanity press. And other social media tools, like Facebook or MySpace, seemed great for connecting people who wanted to date (not an option as I enter my 13th year of matrimony) or posting videos or photos (YouTube, Flickr) of anything that you'd want to see. Great entertainment, admittedly. The most useful social media site to me (Wikipedia) is perfect for what it is, but what can you learn from it that's useful to any other business or organization?

Basically, the questions that I've been seeking answers to are: how, or why, would any business or organization, or media brand, use social media? What role does social media have in the marketing mix? Can value be created from what has seemed to be a set of tools designed for increasingly clever ways to pass the time?

I'm going to use this space for people (clients, prospective clients and other peers) who want and need to know why and how to use social media tools for some sort of valuable purpose. And, in this case, the valuable purpose will be defined in a rather limited, and admittedly sort of a buzz-kill, way. Can you make money? Can you engage existing customers, can you create new customers, can you support your brand?

We've seen what the tools can do for our own firm. We've seen what can be done for a client. There are examples of other organizations being successful with social media that are real. I think we can demystify this area of media so as to find out what has real value for you. If I fail at that, I promise not to use this space for musings about politics, movies, pop culture or anything else.

I think you have plenty of other places to go for that.